The Birth of Vengeance (Vampire Formula #1) Read Free

my seatbelt as it prevented me from crashing into the passenger seat in front. The car reversed quickly and crunched into first gear. The wheels spun, as the tyres screeched with smoke spiralling up into the air, and we drove back towards the gang. I swallowed back my sick. They noticed the car but such sights weren’t uncommon in this estate so the gang paid little attention. We swerved off the road, bounced up the pavement and headed straight at the gang. Linda slammed on the brakes but the car un-expectantly just kept going.
    I braced myself as we skidded towards the group with no hope of stopping. The first member of the gang, Liam, tried to put his hands out to stop the car but the bonnet smashed his legs from under him and catapulted him into the air. His body spun around and travelled onto the windscreen cracking it into a web. Liam bounced up the car banging off the top of the roof and into a twisted pile behind the car. The car clipped Patrick on the side and he spun around hitting the road with his head. Some of the gang laid scattered about as they had knocked each other over in an attempt to escape. The ones at the back had turned and ran as the car piled into them. Somehow Giles managed to avoid the car and stood in the middle of mayhem totally unscathed, with gang members spread about him and running off.
    The car whipped us forwards and backwards in our seats, and my head and neck seized in agony. Linda jumped out of the car, rushed over to Giles, and slipped on the ice nearly knocking him over.
    “Stay in the car,” Mr Johnson shouted into the back seat while opening the door.
    He jumped out of the car and ran around to the twisted body of Liam on the pavement behind. Mr Johnson whipped his phone out and dialled as he knelt down. My head and neck hurt from the whiplash, and I had gone into shock from the collision. My sick clawed its way back and I couldn’t stop it. I opened the door and emptied my lunch onto the road next to the head of Patrick O’Keefe. Lumps of half-digested chips and sausage splattered into his hair.
    I spat the last of the sick out as Patrick was slowly regaining consciousness. Giles was hugging his mum, and behind Mr Johnson was speaking with the emergency services. I wanted to get away from this disaster. I didn’t want any part of this accident. I grabbed my rucksack, scrambled out of the car and ran away from the accident; away from any involvement; away from any responsibility.
    “Jonathan, come back,” Linda shouted but I didn’t stop. I didn’t even look back.
    I didn’t know the area particularly well as this wasn’t a place I had ever walked about or wanted to walk around. I ran back towards the school in the hope that I would recognise the roads back home. In the distance, I saw the chip shop sign, a blue jumping fish on a white background, “Chip Away.” We sometimes came up here for food on the way home. I’d never been so pleased to see that sign in my life. I cut across the road and picked my way through a few back streets that connected back to my normal route. In the distance, I could make out the local newsagents. I was on the way home and away from the tangled mess I had left back on the estate. Even though I knew I was alone and in an area of safety, I kept running all the way home. I wanted to put as much distance as possible between that accident and me, as I knew the O’Keefes wouldn’t let this go unanswered. There would be consequences.
    I rushed inside shutting the door, slung my rucksack down the hallway and raced straight upstairs to my bedroom. The house lay empty, as just Dad and I lived here. Laying on my bed in the dark I retraced my steps, trying to make sense of what had just happened. The way the car had hit those gang members, I knew it was serious.
    I slowly regained my breathing from the long run back and realised I needed to let my Dad know what had happened. I stripped off my coat, walked downstairs and grabbed the cordless phone on